SLTMA condemns grenade attack on newspaper office

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 August 2005, 04:07 GMT]The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) in a news release Saturday said it strongly condemned the grenade attack on the Uthayan newspaper’s office in Wellawatte, Colombo, calling it a “cowardly act,” and urged the Sri Lankan government to take prompt action to stop such attacks.

”In recent days Tamil media personnel are being intimidated, and their professional activities are being monitored with suspicion,” said the SLTMA. “It is shocking to note that it was after the emergency regulations had come into effect, and the city of Colombo put under tight security, that the Tamil News paper office has been attacked.”

The SLTMA statement said that it was fortunate that the two deadly grenades did not explode and the police were later able to defuse them at a beach front in Wellawatte.

According to the SLTMA, Uthayan, a popular Tamil news daily, has been in circulation for the past twenty years in Jaffna, and its sister paper, Sudaroli, has been in circulation in Colombo for the last few years.

In 1990, the Jaffna office of Uthayan came under a bomb attack that killed a security guard and injured two others.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Uthayan Publications, Mr. E.Saravanapavananthan, told TamilNet that a wreath was placed opposite his residence in Colombo on February 4 this year signaling a warning for him.

He added that the investigations carried out by the police were a mere eye wash and that he did not believe the police would bring the perpetrators to justice.